Light Within
by Usagi-Zakura
Summary: Sequel to Growing Up In Haven City. Jak has disappeared and the only ones who can help is Daxter and his new friends, Tanya and Tetra. Complete!
1. Growing Up In Haven City

**Miss.Ecofreak: I made it at last! I finished Growing Up In Haven City and started this sequel**

**Zakura: If you haven't read the first story, maybe this will give you a clue on what it was all about, if not... go back and read it!**

**Miss.Ecofreak: and don't forget to tell me what you think**

**Intro:**

Growing up.

For wild animals, that's the most dangerous part of life.

That goes for the elves in Haven City as well, I should know, I had the hardest childhood of all.

As a kid I had a happy life.

I was sort of a princess, since my uncle ruled the city and his only heirs were my mother and me.

But I didn't care about that at that time.

I just wanted to have fun with my friends, Ashelin Praxis and the Elfin brothers, Erol and Cornelius.

It was too good to last.

When I was five, a terrible fire broke out in my uncle's house.

My uncle, and the city's king, died in that fire, and Cedrik Praxis, my dad's brother and Ashelin's father took over leadership.

And it got even worse.

One by one, my friends were sent of to the krimson school, were they were trained to become the baron's trusted warriors.

It was no good school though; Cornelius can tell you all about that.

He got expelled, not because he didn't fit as a crimson guard, but because he hated the baron, because he had seen with his own eyes what really happened to my uncle.

My father wanted me to go to the KG-school as well, but my mother refused.

She left my father and got married to another man, Jake.

In some ways I felt happier now that my father and my uncle, Baron Praxis, could no longer control my life.

I joined the underground with Cornelius, where I also met his new friend Tanya the sparrowflut.

But my mother's new marriage was short.

Soon after the birth of my little brother, his father disappeared and soon after that, mom was killed by metalheads.

My brother was taken in by the underground. And thank the precursors for that. If the baron's guards had found him he would be dead.

It was shortly after my mother's death that I met Daxter, an ottsel determined to bust his best friend out of prison (and to win the heart of Haven's female population but that's another story)

Cornelius and I received help from an old friend in the KG named Tetra and managed to break into the prison.

Things didn't work out exactly as planned, sure, Daxter saved his friend but the rest of us were captured.

Cornelius met his brother again, who had now become the commander of the krimson guards.

It was no happy reunion though, shortly after that Cornelius was thrown out to the Wasteland, Tanya told me later he had been killed by metalheads.

Tanya, Tetra and I managed to escape, but things weren't going better outside the prison.

My little brother had disappeared, and the citizens had one last hope in winning this war. That one hope was Daxter, or more precisely his friend Jak.

Though it seemed hopeless, after witnessing the death of Baron Praxis, Jak managed to break into the metal heads nest, where he rescued my little brother and destroyed the metal heads leader.

After that, things got even more complicated.

My brother was sent back to the past so he could grow up in safety.

The kid had a destiny he had to fulfill, but to do it, he had to grow up faster than natural, I learned from Pecker the moncaw that he had already returned to the present, actually he came back two years before he left!

The man who was seen as the city's savior…

He was my brother.

_**Kate Praxis**_

_**Heir of Mar and princess in Haven City.**_


	2. The party is over

**Miss.Ecofreak: okay, the party is over!**

**Zakura: relax, that's just the chapter title**

**Miss.Ecofreak:exactly, thanks for the reviews, and one thing for Malik Ming, it's still not too late to read the prequel, although the first chapter of this has already spoiled most of it. **

**Zakura: Or you can just keep reading this, I'll tell more about the characters as the story progresses. As in this chapter, Tanya the sparrowflut makes her apperance. She used to hang out with Erol's little brother Cornelius untill he was thrown out of the city. Now she hangs around Shara untill... read and see:)**

**CHAPTER 1**

**THE PARTY IS OVER**

Daxter

Life as a hero can seem glamorous.

Baron Praxis lay six feet under and Metal Kor's head was on the wall, more precisely, my wall.

You might think that as a hero my life is perfect, but that's far from true.

Sure, I am far more famous now than I was before and my bar, the Naughty Ottsel, is the nr one party-location in Haven City.

But there are some things in my life that still sucks. More precisely: one thing.

And that one thing has green fur, walks on four legs and answers the name "Crocket", sometimes.

"Bad dog! Look what you've done to my new furniture!"  
The crocadog turned around, still with a piece of the chair's fabric between his teeth, he snarled at me.

"Stupid dog" I said, "Why the hell would Jak drop him here anyway?"

"Oh come on, he's kind of cute" Tess said from behind the counter.

"Sure, if you like oversized killer-lizards" I said, "Mixed with a equally murderous dog. He's great"

I turned to walk back to the counter when Crocket saw his chance, and bit my tail.

"ARGH! Damn that stupid mutt!" I yelled, "I'd cut of your most important body-part if you weren't already castrated!"

Tess rolled her eyes.

"Come here puppy, let's go into the kitchen and I'll give some leftovers from dinner" she said.

The crocadog barked happily and ran into the kitchen to follow Tess.

"That crocadog has a face only a mother could love" I muttered.

"Well you don't exactly win first-price in a beauty–contest either" a new voice said.

"Well if it isn't the new KG-commander" I said as I saw Torn enter the Naughty Ottsel, "What brings you to this part of town?"  
"First of all it's not called Krimson guard anymore it's the Freedom League" Torn said, "Second. I was thirsty"

"Suit yourself, Tess is in the kitchen feeding Jak's killer-machine and I have an important mission to do" I said, walking towards the toilets.

When I returned, Torn was at the counter talking to Tess, Crocket was obviously still in the kitchen.

Both silenced as I entered.

"What's wrong? Are you flirting with my girl?" I asked.

Tess giggled.

"Knock it of fuzzy, she's not my type" Torn said, "Me and Tess were just talking about an old friend of ours. Nothing special"

"Nothing special eyh? Then what is it?" I asked.

"None of your business" Torn snapped back, "I have to get back to the HQ, while you can figure out how to walk the crocadog"

"What was that all about?" I asked as soon as he had left.

"Don't worry Dax, he wasn't flirting if that's what you thought" Tess said, "Besides, everyone knows he's got a thing for Ashelin. Torn just wanted to know if I had seen someone"

"Who?" I asked, "Anyone I know?"

"I don't think so. Maybe you will meet someday, but now I think Crocket wants a trip outside", she pointed at the kitchen door, and inside I could hear the crocadog whimper.

"He can't get everything he wants" I said and walked out.

It felt weird knowing the baron was gone.

I had stayed in this city for two years and never liked it.

But only yesterday, party broke out to celebrate the defeat of the dreaded metalhead leader.

And who did the city thank?

Me and my sidekick Jak.

Who just figured out it might be a good idea to drop his dog in my bar while he went out with his girlfriend.

He can be so annoying sometimes.

I turned around to take a look at my bar; I guess it's mostly Jak's credit that I got it.

We used to work for its former owner, Krew, who specialized himself in criminal affairs and (quite obviously) eating.

But as his efforts in making money became very nasty we decided to quit, and at the same time, give the fatass a piece of our mind.

And whenever Jak gives someone a piece of his mind, they usually end up dead.

He scares me sometimes.

For two years he had been stuck in Baron Praxis' prison cell, being tormented with the most evil of all eco-types, dark eco.

The substance that changed me into a fuzzy ottsel, had a very different effect on my best buddy, who has the ability to channel eco far better than anyone else I know.

On first glance he doesn't look much different from before, except that he's older, but if you watch closely… its hard to explain, but his eyes and the way he acts has changed, not to mention that he speaks a lot more than before.

I never forget the first thing he said when I found him in the prison, in fact it was the first time I had actually heard him talk at all.

I knew he would be angry at Praxis for doing this too him, but I never expected him to shout it out as he did.

And I was really not expecting what happened next.

Only the thought gives me the creeps.

Dark Jak.

Whenever he gets angry enough, the true power of the dark eco shows itself, and he transforms into that terrible monster.

Sure it's useful when it comes to kick some butt at the KG or the metalheads, but I can't help thinking about what he could do to me.

It's not like he has never tried to attack me before.

That time in the prison I was inches away from being shred to pieces but luckily Jak managed to change back before his alter ego made his first kill.

But what if it happened again? Would Jak be able to stop it?

"Trying to get some fresh air?"  
I turned around to see who was talking, but I couldn't see anyone.

"Down here smartass!"

I looked down at a small blue and yellow sparrow; I had met it once before, when I tried to bust Jak out of prison.

"Oh, it's you, the annoying little sparrowflut" I said, "What are you doing here? And where are your crazy little friends?"

"The name's Tanya and I find it a bit funny that you walk around talking about crazy friends seeing who you hang out with" she said, sounding offended.

I rolled my eyes.

"Fine, what do you want Tanya? And if you think you can have free drinks think again" I said.

"I do not want any of your dirty drinks!" Tanya said, see? Told you she was annoying, "Do you remember the girl who helped you out when you were sick some months ago?"

"Oh yeah, Shara. A good kid, a lot better than you at least" I said.

Tanya glared at me for a moment, "Well, she's missing!"

**Miss.Ecofreak: straight to the disapperance. I hope you liked it, and if you didn't, I'll try to make the story better in the future, this is only the beginning anyway.**

**Zakura: and stories rarely get good in chapter one.**

**Miss.Ecofreak: review and tell me what you think.**


	3. Trouble in Haven

**Miss.Ecofreak: wow! Eigth reviews for two chapters, that's a lot more than what I got for Growing up where I had to wait a long time to get my second review! Thanks people!**

**Answer to Thee Slushee: thank you. But Jak does appear in Growing up, as a kid:) Anyway. Adult Jak appears in this chapter. As for their ages, you can see it on my authour profile, the age of each of my own characters are mentioned. Just remember, when I started GUIHC Jak2 was supposed to be in 215, it still starts there but it would me more accurate to say 216 seeing that it starts at the end of 215.**

**So to figure out the age of the characters in this story, see how old they are in Jak2 and add one year, can you do that even if you're not a math-fan? (I'm not a math-fan either) If not, see how old they are in Jak3 and that would solve your problem.**

**Zakura: How about the characters you didn't create?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: I have never heard a offical age for them, so I usually say that Jak and Daxter are around 21 in Jak2, therefore they are 21 in this as well. Ashelin is the same age as Kate, 21, while Erol is 22. I hope that answers your question, if not. Ask again and I'll explain what you didn't understand. Now for a new chapter.**

**CHAPTER 2**

**TROUBLE IN HAVEN**

Still Daxter

Tanya kept glaring at me, I glared back.

"Do I look like a search party? Why don't you ask Torn?" I asked.

"I've never really liked Torn. Actually I never really liked you either. Is Jak around?" Tanya said.

Damn, why is it always Jak?

"No, but you can talk to his dog if you want to" I said.

"I'm not nuts. Do you know where he is?" Tanya asked.

"Probably with his girlfriend, just don't ask me where they are" I said, "He just dumped his mutt here and went"

"So much for a good friendship" Tanya said.

"Hey! Don't start! I don't see your friends around, where's that sharpshooter with the goggles?" I asked.

"None of your business" Tanya snapped back, "But where do you think Jak could be?"  
"I don't know! Why don't you ask him?" I said and walked back in.

Tess was busy cleaning the counter when I came in, and judging by the scratching-sounds, Crocket was still in the kitchen.

"Something wrong sweety?" she asked, using one of her billion nicknames on me.

"Nothing angel, don't you worry about me" I said, using one of my million nicknames on her.

Jak

I was heading back to the Naughty Ottsel a couple of hours ago I really was.

But then my… er… zoomer broke down.

"I'm telling you Jak, there's nothing wrong with it" Keira said, "Actually it looks quite good considering who drives it."

"Either way, it's not working. Sure you've checked everything?" I asked.

Keira giggled, "You're the only one I know who's got a zoomer that is a hypochondriac" she laughed, "Or maybe you just made up an excuse to stay longer? Don't you think your dog misses you?"  
"Nah, Daxter can look after him" I said, "He needs something that can help him get over his fear of dogs"

"I doubt Crocket is the right medication for that, I still can't forget the first time he tried to pet a dog" Keira said.

"Who can forget? The dog bit his arm and he ran straight up in a three" I said, "It was quite amusing to watch actually, if it hadn't been for the fact that he had to go to the nurse and get a rabies-vaccine afterwards. That was not funny at all"

"You only say that because you were forced to take it as well" Keira said, "You shouldn't hang around all those wild animals"

"I can't help it that Sandover Village was a boring place. In the forbidden jungle there was at least more to do than to wash your father's house" I answered, "I only lived in Haven City the first three-four years of my life but it still got me used to a more dramatic life."

"But Daxter never lived in Haven, so now I think you should take your perfectly fine zoomer and go back and take that crocadog of his hands" Keira commanded and pushed the zoomer into my hands (she could do that because the zoomer was quite small and didn't even touch the ground)

"Yes ma'am" I said and jumped on the zoomer, Keira can get very persuasive sometimes.

I drove out of the stadium perhaps a bit faster than I should have; the speed limits are too low if you ask me.

Fine, I crashed twice on my way out to the main street, but the zoomer wasn't damaged much **(Zakura: sounds like someone you know? Miss.Ecofreak: where's the fun in driving slowly on a zoomer?)**

As I drove by the canal I noticed there was a man waving at me.

"Hey there!" he shouted, "You in the dented zoomer (**Miss.Ecofreak: (giggles) dented zoomer) **could you help me out please?"  
Was that guy talking to me? I looked around, the others around me obviously kept the speed limit and their zoomers didn't have a scratch so it had to be me.

I flew down to see what the guy wanted.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I'm sorry to bother you young man, but my zoomer is broken" the man said.

"And why do you ask me?" I asked.

"I've seen you in the city races and judging by the state of your zoomer you must know something about them. More than me at least, I suck at repairing things" the man said and giggled.

Fixing zoomers is usually something I leave to Keira but I did know how to fix small things.

"Fine, let me see then" I said.

The man led me into the blind gate where his zoomer apparently was placed to keep it out of the way for passers by.

There was only one problem.

There was no zoomer here.

I was about to ask where it was when I suddenly felt something to the back of my head and it all went black.

**Miss.Ecofreak: I'm starting to like cliffhangers. Either that or my chapters just end up to long so I find the worst possible time to stop them.**

**Zakura: too long? How can they be too long? And I for once don't like cliffhangers! They make me nervous.**

**Miss.Ecofreak: what's your problem? you can just read the next chapter on the PC.**

**Zakura: and what's with all the nicknames?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: loved ones have many names. Like when my mon calls my dogMax, the dog, the black one (she sometimes speaks (bad) english when she wants me to put him out, even though we are norwegian), and she calls you Zakki**

**Zakura: at leastthat's better than what your brother calls me, Zakcake, (insert Miss.Ecofreak's real name here)'s (clapps) adorable little rabbit Zakura or hairdryer... Why hairdryer?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: he saysa lot of weird stuff. Anyway, review people.**


	4. The Rescue Team

**Miss.Ecofreak: Time for another update... if my annoying little brother would please stop reading over my shoulder!**

**Miss.Ecofreak's annoying little brother: What's so wrong about that?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: that sentence sounded stupid. Never mind. On to the reviews**

**Answer to Eco Mistress: I can't wait for another apperance of Cornelius either! He's my favourite amongs my own characters:)**

**Answer to DarkMar: No... sorry. Veger is not appearing in this story.**

**Zakura: can I say something now?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: sure**

**Zakura: (to little brohter) stop calling me hairdryer**

**Miss.Ecofreak's annoying little brother who calls Zakura hairdryer: lets keep to the subject**

**Miss.Ecofreak: do not blame me for bad grammar in his sentences, I just wrote of what he said. On with the fic.**

**CHAPTER 3**

**THE RESCUE TEAM**

Daxter

"Stop that barking! I'm trying to eat!" I yelled.

I sat on the table, the only place where that crazy crocadog couldn't get me.

"Someone's hungry" Tess said and fetched a dog biscuit from the cupboard.

"Don't encourage him. That only makes him bark worse" I said to her.

"I'm not going to encourage his barking silly" Tess said, using another one of her billion names on me, "Crocket, sit!"

The damn dog actually sat down and stopped barking.

He never did that to me, perhaps it had something to do with the biscuit Tess was holding, she gave it do the dog who didn't bother chewing.

"See? He's nice when you know him" she said and petted the dog's head.

"I've known him for a couple of months now and I still don't like him" I muttered.

Suddenly we heard a knocking at the window.

Tess went and opened the window and Tanya flew in, followed by a red and brown fuzzy creature even smaller than me with long rabbit-ears and a fuzzy tail.

"Thanks Tess, good to see a friendly face for once" Tanya said with a sharp look in my direction.

"I can't remember inviting you" I said to her, "Not your little friend either".

The brown animal climbed up to the table (only just avoiding a bite from Crocked), "Is that how you thank me for getting you in to the fortress?" she asked.

As she gave me that look, I suddenly noticed I had seen this animal before, only back then she was no animal.

"T-tetra?" I said and almost got the sandwich I was eating in my throat.

"What? Didn't you recognize me at first? Is this the same thing your friend said when you came up as a rat?" she asked.

"Don't be like that Tetra, he's probably happy to see you" Tess said.

"Yeah, just like I was happy to see my tail for the first time" I muttered, "Didn't I tell you to go bother someone else?" the last sentence was directed on Tanya, but Tetra answered it anyway.

"We went to look for your friend Jak in hopes that he was a bit friendlier than you. We asked at the stadium but they said he had already left" she said.

"Maybe he went home?" I suggested.

"I don't know Dax; this sounds fishy" Tess said, "Why would he go home without his dog? He knows you hate looking after him."

I dropped my sandwich to the floor, she was right. Jak would never leave me with Crocket (who was currently eating the sandwich I dropped).

"Ehm, maybe he's with Keira. He often forgets time when he's with her" I said, "It's been like this since they were "just friends" too"

"We talked to Keira, she's the one who said he had left" Tanya said, "At least I think it was Keira. Isn't she the mechanic with green-blue hair?"

"Of course it's her Tanny! Timmy **(Tetra's older brother who was adopted away when she was a baby) **keeps talking about her all the time" Tetra said, "It makes me regret I moved in with him, that and his little sister who thinks I'm her new pet"

"I have to check this" I said.

I jumped of the table and on to the kitchen-counter where a small communicator was laying.

I picked it up and dialed Jak's number.

No answer, the screen kept blinking "No signal", odd.

"Jak never leaves his communicator off" I said, "Not even at night, it's like he's always expecting a new mission. Done with adventures my ass" **(Miss.Ecofreak: you know he said that at the end of Jak2)**

For once Tanya didn't look so cocky.

"This is not good" she said, "Perhaps he's been kidnapped by the same people who kidnapped Shara"

"Now why would anyone want to kidnap those two? Its not like they have a lot in common" I said.

"You have no idea" Tanya whispered, "We have to save them!"  
"Hey hold on a sec! How are we supposed to do that? We have no idea where they are?" I said.

"But we got someone who can help" Tess said.

It took me a while to see what she meant, and then I looked down at the floor.

"No. Way" I said.

Jak

My head still hurt when I woke up, I couldn't see where I was because it was too dark.

I tried to stand up but my hands and feet were tied.

"Are you alright?"

A girls voice, and it sounded somewhat familiar, I turned around and saw there was a girl sitting next to me.

She was not tied up; then again it could have something to do with the broken glass next to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I said, "But I would be even better if you helped me get these ropes of".

The girl smiled and cut the ropes with a piece of the broken glass.

"Thanks, by the way, who are you?" I asked.

The girl looked a bit surprised by the question at first, but then she answered.

"My name is Shara S… just Shara" she answered, but then she looked away again; I noticed she looked a bit sad.

"Is there something wrong?" I asked, "Except for the fact that we are stuck in here I mean"

"No, it's nothing" she answered, "But I don't like being in here, I was just going to see someone when this strange man attacked me"

"I know what you mean; do you have any idea where we are?" I asked.

"No, I just woke up here a couple of hours ago. I haven't seen anyone come in either" Shara said, "I tried to find a way out but it was no use. Seems like we are stuck in here, Jak".

"How do you know my name?" I asked, only as I said that I realized it was a stupid question.

"Duh, everyone knows who you are" Shara said, "Your face is posted all over Haven City. And that's only because you managed to beat Erol Elfin in a race. Not to mention before that you were the most wanted elf in Haven City"

"Even after that I was the most wanted elf in Haven City" I replied, "But you're right. It was a stupid question."

I looked around in the small room.

It looked a bit like the baron's old prison cells, only that this one hadn't been cleaned in years.

There were no windows, only small cracks in the walls allowed some sunshine to come in.

In the ceiling there was one small lamp, it lit up the room just enough to allow me to see.

I looked over at my cell-mate.

She appeared to be my own age, her yellow and bright green hair reached her shoulders.

She was wearing a blue jacket with yellow stripes on it, white pants and long black boots which reached her knees.

I couldn't shake of the feeling that I had seen this girl once before, but where?

**Miss.Ecofreak: right. where could he have seen that girl before?**

**Zakura: yeah, he's not even appearing in GUIHC**

**Miss.Ecofreak: yes he does! As a kid, but that's still Jak**

**Zakura: oh, right. Forgot about that.**

**Miss.Ecofreak: anyway. Remember to review boys and girls and women and men and rabbits. Whenever I get a good review I can't wait to update! it's really good motivation**

**Zakura: and if you get a bad one**

**Miss.Ecofreak: then I know what I'm not supposed to do in the future. See you soon.**


	5. The Secret Fortress

**Miss.Ecofreak: today I am both a happy person and a sad person. I am sad because school has started after winter vacation, besides, two of our school's hamsters have died, including my favourite, Pepper.**

**But I am also happy, I've just learned that the magazine Shonen Jump (with Naruto) is coming to Norway!**

**Zakura: What's the big deal? You've already read far into the Naruto-series already!**

**Miss.Ecofreak: Only in english. You might ask what this has to do with Light Within? Nothing at all. I just wanted to say it.**

**Answer to Dark Mar: Don't you remember who was on the floor? Crocket the crocadog of course!**

**Miss.Ecofreak: And now, for yet another chapter of Light Within**

**CHAPTER 4**

**THE SECRET FORTRESS**

Daxter

"Come on stupidhead! Make yourself useful for once!" I yelled.

"Give it a break Daxter; can't you see he's trying?" Tanya said, she was sitting on my head, annoyingly enough, while Crocket was sniffing at the ground.

"For all we know he might be looking for some squirrels to chase, why do I get stuck with nothing but crap when Jak gets the best sidekick there is?" I asked.

"You know, I was about to ask the same question" Tetra said.

Before I had time to give a nasty reply Crocket suddenly barked and ran of.

And seeing that I had him on a leach…

"He's found something!" Tanya said and flew after Crocket.

"Great, now all he has to do is STOP RUNNING!" I yelled as the crazy crocadog dragged me through the streets of Haven City.

But the dog had no intention of slowing down.

He dragged me through the park, into the stadium, back out, towards the slums, towards the waterslums…

"Okay. Now this is getting painful" I said as I dropped the leach and crashed into a badly fastened plank for the seventh time.

"Not that I care, but are you alright?" Tetra asked.

"I think I just broke my nose, apart from that I'm fine" I muttered.

"Good, cause we're obviously going on a field trip" the chinbit (rabbit-chinchilla-cross) said and pointed.

I looked up to see where she was pointing, there was Crocket, barking at a large metal door.

I knew exactly where that door led.

"Oh no" I sighed.  
"Oh yes. The drain-pipe to the pumping station" Tetra said.

If you are not familiar with Haven City then you might wonder why a pumping station is so bad.

Well, the pumping station itself is no danger; it's where it's positioned that bothers me.

When Mar built this city long ago, he obviously found it a good idea to place the station outside the city walls.

And outside the wall means there's a lot of metalheads there, and metalheads are not good, I guess you already knew that.

So there I was, on my way out to the pumping station with no one else to help me except a mouse-sized bird, a naughty chinbit and a crazy crocadog.

The door opened as soon as we walked up to it.

I guess no one expects anyone to be stupid enough to go out there at will so they never bothered to put a lock on it.

As we walked out, I couldn't see any metalheads at first, but that didn't have to mean they were not there.

"Come on Daxter, there's nothing here" Tanya said, she had already flown out and sat in a three to get a better view.

Crocket was sniffing around to figure out where to go next.

"Perhaps we should have asked Torn for help" I said, "Or Ashelin, anyone in the freedom league guard"

"Why do we need to do that? We've got "Orange Lightning" on the team" Tetra said, "Besides, we've already made it this far".

"Getting through the city is one thing. Getting through the wasteland is a completely different matter" I said, "And in case you haven't noticed, none of us are armed".

"You worry too much" Tanya said.  
"You can say that when a metalhead start chewing on your head" I said.

"Drop it, Crocket has caught up the trace" Tetra said as Crocket ran of.

We followed the dog further into the wilderness than I had ever been before.

Jak and I had been on many missions outside the walls, by the pumping station, the mountain temple, Haven Forest, the dig and even the metalhead nest.

But I had never been on my own out here, and I didn't see the two girls and the crocadog as a good replacement for Jak and his gun.

I missed him more than ever as we walked through unknown forests and every time I heard a noise behind me I feared metalheads, only to see it was just a rat.

In situations like this I even missed Dark Jak.

Suddenly our journey hit a wall, literally.

"Oh great. How are we going to get past this?" I asked as I looked up on the high brick wall.

"This wall is elven-made" Tanya said, "But who would make a large wall out here?"

"Maybe it's another city?" Tetra suggested, "Or an old one"

"Nah, there are no cities this close to Haven City. We would have known" Tanya replied, "Do you know anything about this Daxter?"  
"Me? I grew up in Sandover bird-brain, hundreds of years before your time" I said.

"Can't you fly over it Tanya?" Tetra asked.

"I could always have a look" Tanya said and took of.

She flew over the wall and landed on the top of it.

"Can you see anything?" Tetra shouted.

"It's some kind of fortress here" Tanya shouted back, "This wall is very thick, it's probably one of those secret fortresses the baron built outside the walls to extra hard-to-keep prisoners".

"Why didn't they ever shut Jak in here? It was no problem breaking out of that prison" I commented.

"Projects like the dark-warrior program obviously needed extra monitoring" Tetra explained, "These fortresses were checked over like once a week according to the rumors, I bet they're abounded now"

"So why don't we just go around it and see if we can find an entrance?" I said, "Hey bird-brain! Do you see any way around these rocks?"

"Not if you keep calling me bird-brain little rat" Tanya yelled back, "But if you walk back a few meters and then go to the left you should find the front door. But watch out, there are a couple of metalheads blocking the way"

"Great, what are we supposed to do about them?" I muttered.

Tanya must have noticed how disappointed I looked, because she flew down and landed on my head again.

"Don't worry Dax, they are so small even you would be able to kick their buts" she said.

So we followed Tanya's instructions, (we had to drag Crocket along because he wanted to dig a hole under the wall), and soon we saw the two metalheads.

Tanya was right; they were small, only two of those toad-like creatures who looked more scared of us than we were of them.

Or maybe they were more scared of Crocket who quickly got them both running.

"Hey, you're not so bad after all" I said and tried to pet his head, only to be bitten for the tenth time today.

It didn't take long until we found the front door.

A large wooden door… what kind of fortress-facility has wooden doors?

"Wouldn't it be easy for the prisoners to just burn this door?" I asked, "Especially if there are no guards around?"

"The baron never cared much if some prisoners escaped into the wasteland, they rarely found their way back to the city anyway" Tetra said, "They didn't have a nice tracking dog like we do", if you think her attempt at petting Crocket worked better than mine, think again.

"#¤ dog" Tetra cursed.

"Watch your language. Sure hope Crocket has rabies-vaccine" Tanya said.

"You never said that when he bit me" I commented.

"That's different. You are nuts already" Tanya said and flew over the door before I had time to catch her.

The door obviously had been burned a couple of (hundred) times, the holes had simply been closed using more planks and now they were easily removable.

"The baron died one week ago an already this place is falling apart" I said as I crawled through one of the holes.** (Miss.Ecofreak: I know this was supposed to take place only the day after the big party, but I bet redecorating the Hip Hog Heaven/Naughty Ottsel can't have taken only one day)**

"Maintaining other buildings than his palace has never been the baron's strong side" Tetra said.

"Watch out, someone's coming" Tanya said.

We hid behind some barrels just as a couple of guys passed by.

They were wearing parts of old Krimson guard amours, probably just some trash they found lying around.

"These guys looks like they are the baron's fan club or something" I whispered, "That kind of explains it if they kidnapped Jak, but where is he?"

Before I got an answer Crocket got loose from his leached and ran for the two men barking like there was no tomorrow.

"What the? Shoot that dog!" one of the men yelled.

"Great, that stupid crocadog is going to get us all killed" I said.

"He's just trying to protect his friend" Tanya said.

I was halfway hoping Crocket actually did get shot, but no, he bit the two elves in the arms and ran of with their guns, then he came back to us.

"Great job Crocket, give me those" Tetra said and took the guns from Crocket, she handed one to me, "You do know how to use a gun right?" she asked.

"Of course, I use Jak's morph gun all the time" I said and took the small gun in my hand.

Just then one of the elves pushed the barrel aside, probably to catch Crocket.

"More of them? Hey Jim! It's the little rat!" he yelled at his comrade.

That's the last thing he ever yelled.

"Great shooting, but we better get the other one too before he calls for aid" Tetra said.

"No problem" I said and aimed at the other guy.

Unfortunately I was only able to hit his shoulder armor.

The man ran at us and quickly grabbed me by my tail.

"What's this? Isn't it the eco-freak's little pet?" he said, "He'll be so happy to see you again"

"Let go of him or I'll…" Tetra started, only to realize her gun was out of ammo.

"Or you'll what? Throw that gun at my head?" the man, whom his dead buddy had called Jim, said and laughed.

He picked Tetra up with his other hand, after taking the gun from me.

"Two little rats and a nasty crocadog, what am I supposed to do with you?" he said with a smirk on his head.  
"You could watch out!"  
Tanya hit Jim in the back of his head with her beak, that hurt him enough to let us go, and we had no plans of staying put so we ran towards the buildings in the middle.

"Where would you be without me?" Tanya asked.

"That was a great rescue Tanya" Tetra said as she ran.

"Yeah. Thanks" I said.

"Wow, the almighty Daxter said thanks, I should have taped this or no one would believe me" Tanya said and laughed.

"Very funny, let's just figure out where they keep Jak and then we leave" I said.

The two girls glared at me.  
"Fine, Jak and Shara. But _then _we go home" I said.

**Miss.Ecofreak: I just wanted to say that the fortress portrayed in this chapter does not exist in the game, I just made it up as I wrote.**

**Zakura: why do you always have such open endings?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: because all the happenings in this story happens so quickly after each other, besides, cliffhangers makes it more exiting.**

**Zakura: how can people hanging in cliffs make it more exiting?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: (sighs) you just don't get it do you? Anyway, review and chapter five will be up as soon as I can write it.**


	6. The rescue

**Miss.Ecofreak: What can I say about this? Oh yeah, this is the chapter where the title finally start to make sense, Shara mentions the light wihtin for the first time.**

**In case you wonder, the light within is what the precursor oracle in Jak and Daxter. Precursor legacy talks about all the time.**

**Zakura: who cares?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: I DO! Oh well, here's the next chappy.**

**CHAPTER 5**

**THE RESCUE**

Daxter

As we sneaked around in the fortress, my thoughts wandered back to the first time I tried to bust Jak out of somewhere.

And I was worried, I hadn't liked what I found in the baron's cell, and I was worried I wouldn't like what I found here either.

Tanya and Tetra certainly wasn't bothered by this, then again they had never seen Dark Jak.

Tetra jumped up into a broken window and stuck her head in, but she quickly jumped back out.

"These guys never clean their toilets" she said to us, "It smelt like someone had died in there too"  
"Wouldn't surprise me, he was a great man that baron" Tanya said sarcastically, "He killed more of his own citizens than he killed metalheads"

On a normal day I might have laughed of that, but I didn't feel like laughing at anything right now.

Tell any joke you want; tell the funniest joke ever imaginable! I still wouldn't laugh.

I stopped, probably a bit too quickly because Tetra crashed into my back.

"What in the name of the precursors was that for?" she asked, sounding very annoyed.

"Do you smell something funny?" I asked.

"It smells like my parent's house" Tetra said, "And trust me, that was not good".

"No, not like that" I said, I didn't really wonder why she hadn't noticed.

I had been close to dark eco so many times I knew exactly how it looked like, how it smelt, how the crackling of it sounded, how it felt like to touch it, heck even how it tasted to swallow it (although I only did that once and that was two years ago, I never forget it).

"He's close" I said.

"Who? Jak?" Tanya asked, "How can you tell? Are you psychic or something?"

"No, but I know the smell of Dark eco when I smell it" I said, "Jak has been pumped with that stuff for two years, so he stinks of it. Don't worry, I only feel his regular smell, not the one of Dark Jak" I added as I saw the worried look on their faces.

"So where is he?" Tetra asked.

I sniffed in the air to figure out where the smell came from.

"Over there" I pointed and ran towards one of the small cells.

Jak

"That sounded like shooting" Shara said, "Did you hear it?"  
"No, I've become temporarily deaf" I said, "Of course I heard it!"

"Do you think it could be the freedom league?" she asked hopefully.

"I doubt, they have too many things to do inside the city" I said, "They probably haven't even noticed I'm gone, either that or they're partying"  
Shara looked at me with a surprised look.

"Why would they do that?" she asked.

"Haven't you heard?" I asked, "I'm not exactly on the top of the good guys-list".

"But you are a hero" Shara said, "And the heir of Mar. And by being one of his ancestors' means you have the light within right?"  
I tried to laugh, but it sounded more like coughing.

"Had the light within you mean" I said, "Two years of dark eco changed that"

"How can you tell? Have you checked?" Shara asked.

"I just know! Okay? How do you know so much about it anyway?" I said, perhaps with a bit more anger than I wanted to, but then again, since my time in prison I always had a short temper.

"I had a project about it in school" Shara answered, "And there's no reason to be angry"

"Sorry. I can't help it" I said.

I wished for her own good she would leave me alone; my dark side was getting angered by this girl. It never liked it when people asked too many questions, and I had a feeling that the mentioning of the light within made it even angrier.

But no, this girl just can't shut up.

"Do you think Daxter has noticed you were missing?" she asked.

That's when I struck me; I was on my way back to him when I was kidnapped.

He certainly must have noticed I hadn't come to pick up Crocket yet, perhaps he had even called Keira, realizing I wasn't there.

_And maybe he's happy about it_ a voice in the back of my head said; _perhaps he's glad he no longer has to be afraid of you._

I just shook my head to make the voice silence.

"He's probably worried" I said, "He must have noticed."

_He doesn't worry about you! _The voice said; _you're nothing but a monster!_

Shara must have noticed I was looking unfocused.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Sure, I'm fine" I said, straightening up, "I just wished I could have some fresh air in here".

Suddenly the door opened.

"I can fix that" said the ottsel who had opened it.

"Daxter! How did you find me?" I asked in surprise.

"Well, I have to admit, I didn't do it alone" Daxter said, that's when Crocket decided to jump up into my face, quickly followed by a small bird and a chinbit who ran over to Shara.

"Tanya! Tetra! How I am glad to see you" Shara said as the animals jumped up onto her (the bird didn't jump, she was flying).

"Okay doggy, get of" I said and pushed the crocadog of me.

That's when he decided it would be a smart idea to great Shara as well, which surprised me.

"Funny, I've never seen him being so kind to anyone but me before" I said, "Unless they have a treat"

"I've always been good with animals, and your dog obviously sensed that" Shara said.

"That's great, and then you can watch him next time Jak decides to take Keira out on a date" Daxter said, "Come on you two, let's go before the guards get back"

**Zakura: Daxter smells dark eco?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: um, yeah. Just a little thing I added to allow him to find Jak quicker, so they wouldn't have to check every room in the fortress. And it might seem a bit funny that he actually knows the taste of it too, but I figured, when he fell into the dark eco in Precursor legacy I didn't think it looked like he kept his mouth shut, he had his teeth together but that can't stop liquid from coming in, espesially not whith those teeth.**

**Zakura: He has rodent-teeth before he became a rodent**

**Miss.Ecofreak: right, that's one of the pointless things I've been wondering about in Jak and Daxter, the other thing I wonder about is why dark Jak is white while Light Jak is dark blue**

**Zakura: get a life. Why can't you think about more important stuff? Like should I stay indoors in the spring or go outside?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: I'll take you outside, my wires will be a lot safer then**

**Zakura: hey!**

**Miss.Ecofreak: review people, and if you of some reason know why Daxter had rodent-teeth when he's an elf you can tell me:)**

**Zakura: stupidhead.**


	7. Darkness within

**Zakura: Now we've got the main characters out of the cell, how can things go wrong any more?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: oh trust me, things can definitely go wrong. Even if the guards die a slow and painful death, things can still go bad... as long as not _all_ the guards die. Chapter title here is the opposite of the title for the story.**

**Zakura: I've noticed**

**Miss.Ecofreak: that's amazing seeing you're a rabbit and can't read**

**Answer to JaksgirlKenya: oh yeah, that was the main reason aI wrote this story, I can't wait to see Jak (or Daxter)'s reaction!**

**Zakura: you can't wait? you're the authour!**

**Miss.Ecofreak: but I haven't written the last chapter yet, all I have written is this one and the next in norwegian, read, enjoy/hate and review.**

**CHAPTER 6**

**DARKNESS WITHIN**

Jak

"Now all we have to do is get out of here without receiving to many fatal injuries" Daxter whispered as we sneaked out of the cell.

"If only I had my morph gun" I said.

"No problem, it's over there" Tanya said lazily, pointing her beak towards the morph gun and the jetboard that was standing by the wall.

"These guys are really bad at hiding things" Daxter said.

"Or maybe they just didn't expect us to escape" Shara said, "I don't like this"

"And you will definitely hate this" a new voice said.

At least ten guards were standing in front of us, blocking our way, all with their guns pointing at us.

The guard standing closest to us smirked and pointed the gun at the bird, Tanya, who was sitting at Shara's ear.

"You probably think it was a smart idea to fly at me like that did you?" he said, "That really hurt!"  
"Are you a Krimson guard or something? Cause if you are I see why the baron lost the war" Tanya said, "If all his guards are as weak as you I mean, beaten by a small bird"

"Shut up" the man snapped, "Get back into the cell all of you before I shot your heads of".

I snarled at him; _don't tell me what to do_ the voice in my head whispered.

"And what if we don't want to go inside?" Daxter asked, "In fact, this place stinks!"  
"I've always heard about your little pet Ecofreak, does he talk all the time?" the guard said, "Because you better tell him to shut up before I make him"

Daxter decided it might be a smart idea to stop talking, and ran onto my shoulder.

"Don't you dare" I said.

"Oh, afraid of me hurting your friend eyh?" the guard asked, "What are you going to do about it? You're unarmed"

_I'll show you unarmed!_

I wasn't even aware that I had transformed until the guard lay dead before me, his neck had four deep scars from my claws.

But I didn't care, I proceeded towards another guard.

The guard tried to shoot me in defense but I hardly felt the bullet, I ripped the gun out of his hand and punched him in the chest.

I could hear a girl screaming, Shara had obviously been scared of the way I killed those guards but I was unable to stop it.

The rest of the guards tried to run away and I tried to follow.

I grabbed one in the foot and almost tore it of before I fell to the ground.

I turned around to see who had stopped be, it was Shara, and she was holding my feet so I couldn't get up.

"Stop it please!" she cried.

_Stop now? Why should I?_ I thought _these guards tried to kill me; they're on the baron's side!_

"That's okay Jak, I think you've scared them enough" Daxter said, even he sounded a bit shaken.

All I wanted was to tear them all apart, kill all krimson guards and everyone who ever stood on the baron's side.

This girl tried to stop me, her and the little ottsel.

_Don't listen to them _someone whispered, _kill them all if you have to!_

Kill them? Kill the girl who's helped me in the cell? Or the bird and the chinbit by her side? Kill Daxter? No way.

My horns quickly disappeared and my claws shrunk down to normal fingernails again.

I felt dizzy as my dark side let go of control.

As my skin regained its normal color Shara quickly let go of my feet and backed of.

"Er..." even Daxter didn't know what do say in this situation.

"Are you alright? Both of you?" Tanya asked.

"I-I'm fine" Shara said, "Jak?"

"It's okay, I'm getting used to it" I said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you"

"I know" Shara said, but she didn't look at me, I could see she was still crying.

"Come on, let's get out of here while the guards are still hiding" Daxter said.

We got out of the fortress without any problems, but as we got outside the walls, the passage between the mountains that Daxter and the others used to get here had been blocked.

"Great! The guards must have realized what way we came from and caused and avalanche" Daxter said, "Now we have to go around the mountains, into the wasteland-desert", he shuddered, "I hoped I never would have to go there"

"The wasteland desert. Not good" Tanya said and looked away.

"What's the matter?" Daxter asked, "I know it's hot and dangerous and all but you look like you just lost your best friend"

"Shut up Daxter, you wouldn't understand if you had it tattooed on your skull" Tetra snapped.

"What's wrong with Tanya?" I asked.

"She lost a good friend back in the desert" Shara answered, still not looking at me, "He had been exiled".

"Creepy, that's practically a death sentence" Daxter said, "So that's why the brow-haired kid isn't with you"

"His name was not brown-haired kid! It was Cornelius!" Tanya said, "And you shouldn't talk bad about him, if it weren't for him you would never have saved your precious friend here!"

"Okay drop it both of you" I said, "There is no reason to fight"

"Oh, that wasn't a sentence I would have expected from you" Tetra said, "After the way you slaughtered all those guards".

_I'll show you fighting you damn little…_

"Don't say that, it's not his fault" Daxter said.

"So can we go now or what?" Tanya asked, "I'm not getting any younger here"

The desert wasn't far away from the fortress; luckily we didn't have to go far into the sand dunes as we followed the mountainside to get back to Haven City.

"I'm tired" Daxter said after a while, a very silly thing to say seeing he was on my shoulder, "Can we take a break?"  
"Do you want to get past this desert or not?" Tanya asked.

"It's not wise to go through the desert on mid-day, that's what my mother used to say" Daxter said.

I had to laugh, "Why would she say that? You lived by the ocean"

"Probably she said it in case of situations like this" Daxter answered, "She noticed I was hanging a lot around you and you attract trouble like Crocket attracts fleas"

Crocket barked at the mentioning of his name, though he didn't seem to know what we were really talking about.

"There's an oasis over there, perhaps we can camp there for the day" Shara said.

We got to the oasis and Daxter jumped up on a mossy rock and fell asleep instantly.

"Wow, he really was tired" Tetra said, she herself climbed up in a three.

"Chinbits prefer either threes or borrows to sleep in" she explained, "You can sleep on the ground while Tanya and I sleep up here, we can look out for trouble as well".

"Great, sleeping outside has always been my dream" Tanya said sarcastic, "Right now I almost wished I had a cardboard box"

"What's the problem? It hardly even rains in the desert!" Tetra said.

"Hardly, but it does" Tanya said, "I prefer to be prepared, but if this is all we got I guess I have to deal with the shelter from these threes"

"I could have fallen asleep on a rock after today" Shara said and laid down in the grass, "Well, sweet dreams"

She didn't seem to have much problems sleeping; either that or she was just pretending to sleep.

I certainly didn't find it easy to sleep.

One thing was that I was far away from anything called civilization; the heat didn't bother me much seeing the threes provided shade, but I couldn't stop thinking about the guards that I had killed.

Those things rarely bothered me before, they were the henchmen of baron Praxis, the man responsible for turning me into the ecofreak I am today.

But the look on Shara's face after seeing Dark Jak…

And I couldn't shake of the feeling that I had known her, somehow long ago.

How could that be? I couldn't have met her in Sandover, seeing it had been destroyed over two hundred years ago.

I knew I had lived in Haven City before going back in time, but if no one had told me I never would have known, I didn't remember anything from that time, except the light from the rift ring as I was sent back to the village that stood where Haven City is now.

Somehow, I still managed to fall asleep, but I did not have sweet dreams.

**Miss.Ecofreak: and now you have to wait for the next update to see what Jak is dreaming (makes funny pose) because I'm bad!**

**Zakura: stop copying Lizzie Mcquire**

**Miss.Ecofreak: quiz time! In the last chapter (chapter 5) Shara talked about the light within and Jak said it was gone, how many of you think the light within is gone or is it still there only Jak hadn't noticed?**

**If you answer corrrectly you will win... nothing, But I'll mention your pen-name in the next chapter. If you answer wrong you will get... definitely nothing, but if you have a question I'll answer it in the next chapter (as long as it isn't a spoiler**

**Jak: I think it's gone!**

**Miss.Ecofreak: I know you do Jak, but I was asking the readers**

**Jak: I can read**

**Miss.Ecofreak: I don't care, get lost.**

**Jak: (gets lost)**

**Miss.Ecofreak: just hope he finds his way back before the next chapter, review folks (goes to get Jak back and apologize)**


	8. The dream

**Miss.Ecofreak: (is reading first norwegian Shonen Jump)**

**Zakura: er... Eco?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: what? Oh! Updating! (throws Shonen Jump into Jak's hands)**

**Jak: (sits down and reads Shonen Jump)**

**Miss.Ecofreak: welcome back to my story, I've decided to wait for the review-answering till after the story so that I won't spoil more than necassary. Read and enjoy.**

**Zakura: who cares about enjoy? Read and REVIEW!**

**Miss.Ecofreak: er... if nobody enjoys the chapter I'll only get flames. Read, enjoy AND review;)**

**CHAPTER 7**

**THE DREAM**

Jak's dream

I was back at the stadium; I had just destroyed some listening devices for Krew down at the port and was of to see the woman who gave me the jetboard needed for the mission.

"We destroyed Krew's cargo" I said.

"Great! I'll send you a medal" the woman behind the curtain snapped, "Now if you will excuse me I'm on a deadline so scram!"

"Are you always this difficult?" I asked, this woman was really getting on my nerves.

"Let me handle this Jak" Daxter said, stepping forward, "Listen lady! We beat your stupid course, and we can outrace anybody in this city! And there are just two things you need to know: 1. we don't want to join your stinking race team! And 2. You just lost a date with orange lightning, let's go Jak"

But as we were about to leave, the curtain was pulled away.

"Daxter! It is you!" the woman behind it said.

"Keira?" Daxter said in surprise.

"I never thought I would be so glad to see your furry mug" Keira said, bending down to Daxter to shake his cheeks, then she turned to me, "And Jak, you look… different"

"It's been a tough ride" I said, turning away.

_She's worried about you, for a good reason _a silent voice said, it didn't resemble the one I had been hearing since my escape from the prison, but still it sounded familiar.

"The baron pumped our boy here full of dark eco, and it did something to him" Daxter said, "Now he's got super-moves or something, and a few anger issues as well"  
"I've been looking for you guys forever, and planning a way for us to get back home" Keira said, and started talking about what she had been doing for the last two years including calculating the time-displacement and blah blah blah.

"We found your father" I said, interrupting her, "Well, sort of."

Keira just looked at me with a confused look but Daxter continued.

"Working with the underground fighting the baron" he said, "But he's…eh"

"What?" Keira asked.

"You need to go see him" I said, "And I need to get to the baron"  
_Wow aren't you a romantic one _the silent voice said, _she's worried about you! And all you talk about is the baron!_

Who the hell was talking? I couldn't remember hearing this voice at the stadium where we met Keira again.

Before I figured out where the voice came from the dream changed.

I was still in the stadium, but a couple of weeks later.

I saw Keira and her father, Samos, standing in the door.

"Wow, Erol's the best racer I've ever seen" Keira said.

"He's not what you think" I said.

"So you're a good judge of character? Look at you!" Keira said, "People say you get angry and… change. Besides, the Jak I knew wouldn't be working for a guy like Krew"

_She's right; he wouldn't,_ said the silent voice.

"I need Krew's information to get back on the baron" I said in defense, "Without his… you know what? Do it your way and I'll do it mine, just don't come crawling to me when the walls fall down"

I was sick of the conversation so I walked out; ignoring Daxter's attempts of making me come back.

She didn't get it; nobody understood the way I felt.

_Because you never told her_, said the voice.

I turned around to see the one talking, but there was nobody there, only an empty corridor.

"Who are you?" I asked.

_Don't you recognize my voice?_ It said, _I wouldn't be surprised if it was Daxter I was talking to but you should be able to hear it._

I turned around again, but it sounded like the voice came from my own head.

"Where are you? Why don't you show yourself?" I asked.

**Because he is you** said another voice, darker this time.

The stadium dissolved, suddenly I was… nowhere, there was nothing but white light around me, and there, in front of me stood a glowing elf.

"You're a precursor" I said in surprise.

"Well, yeah. I've noticed that" said the precursor, "We've met before in the metal head nest. But the darkness inside you is still present"

"I'm feeling fine" I said stubborn.

_You didn't seem fine earlier today,_ said the silent voice.

"There is still hope" the precursor said, "The light within you is weak but you can make it stronger"

"Forget it, it's to late for that" I said turning away.

"So I'm dead am I?" asked the first voice, but this time I didn't hear it in my head.

I turned around and stood face to face with my younger self, he looked just like I looked the day I went through the rift.

"You can't go on like this!" He said in a voice which had rarely been heard in real life, "You can't let Dark Jak control you!"

"I don't" I said.

"You may not believe it but it's true" said the precursor, "And this boy knows it more than anyone, he is the light within, it appears in front of you like you used to be two years ago"

"Do I need to hear this?" I asked, this was insane; I was talking to myself as a kid! A person who in real-life didn't even talk!

"You don't have to hear it" said the precursor, "I can show you what I mean"

The scene changed.

I was tied to a table, even though I knew I was dreaming, I could almost feel the pain from my last eco-treatment.

Something jumped up on my stomach.

"Hey buddy, seen any heroes around? Wow! What did they do to you?" the small thing asked, "Jak! It's me! Daxter!"  
I opened my eyes but saw nothing but a shadowy image of something yellow and orange.

"Well that's some hello! I've been crawling around this place, risking my tail! Literally, to save you! I've been looking for you for two years! Say something Jak! Just this once!" he yelled.

"I'm gonna kill Praxis!" I yelled before Daxter slapped his hand before my mouth.

"Shh! Right now we have to get you out of here" Daxter whispered.

Oh great, now Daxter, the loudest ottsel/elf who's ever lived asked _me _to quite down. **(Miss.Ecofreak: one of the most ironic things in Jak2)**

"Just let me figure out how to open the security-locks to your chair so…"  
He didn't get farther, the locks flew of in a rush and I… I transformed for the first time.

"Or… you can do it" Daxter said.

I/Dark Jak wasn't listening, the monster stood up and walked towards the little ottsel.  
"Jak? Easy now, easy old fellow" Daxter stuttered, "It's your old pal Daxter, remember?"

"Daxter?"

I regained control over my body, but I still felt very dizzy.

"What the hell was that?" Daxter yelled, "Geez, remind me not to piss you of. Come on tall dark and gruesome, let's get back"

**Now do you understand? **Asked the precursor.

"I…I don't know" I said, "I'm so confused, like I want to believe but… a part of me says it's all made-up"

The cell dissolved and the precursor stood before me once more.

My younger self was gone, no wait, not gone, he had become me.

It felt like something heavy had been removed from my shoulders, the part of me who had been insisting that this was all a joke disappeared, my dark side was gone.

"How about now?" asked the precursor.

I didn't answer; I just stared at my hands in disbelief.

It was like I had traveled back in time and at the same time become younger.

The memories of the two years in prison were still present but I still felt like it had never happened.

"I have sealed away your dark side from this dream" the precursor explained, "It will return when you wake up, but this makes my job a lot easier. Now that you know the truth you probably see what I have been talking about all this time?"  
I nodded, since my time in prison I had this strange voice in my head telling me to do stupid things.

This voice was now gone, but I knew it would be back as soon as I woke up and I couldn't stop it.

"What am I going to do?" I asked.

"You must listen to the light" said the precursor, "And if that doesn't work, go to your friends"

"Daxter" I whispered.

**Miss.Ecofreak: and stop**

**Answer to JaksgirlKenya: correct! If the light within had disappeared this story's title wouldn't make sense at all.**

**Answer to Malik Ming: yes to what? I had two alternatives in the question and both can't be true. Thanks for liking my story anyway:)**

**Zakura: (is too busy reading Shonen Jump over Jak's shoulder)**

**Miss.Ecofreak: This last chapter was one of the few (two I think) which was written in norwegian. In fact, this, and the next chapter (which shows Daxter's reaction to all this) was written in August, before my first day at school.**

**So... I hope you liked this as much as I did. I think it was the first time I wrote something this emotional (Growing Up doesn't count since it was written after this chapter). Tell me what you think:)**


	9. The warning

**Miss.Ecofreak: phew. Sorry for the long wait, but I've finally managed to complete chapter 8! I just hope it's good, I had a real hard time writing this. But I ended up making it a bit more comedic at the end. But enough talking. Now on to the long-awaited Chapter 8 of Light Within**

**CHAPTER 8**

**THE WARNING**

Daxter

I had a beautiful dream when I fell asleep.

I dreamt that I was a movie star, surrounded by beautiful ottsel-girls who loved me.

Annoyingly enough, just as one of the female ottsels (who looked like an ottsel-version of Tess) was about to kiss me, everything dissolved and I was just floating around in the middle of nowhere.

"What the heck just happened?" I asked in surprise.

There was no echo, and I had the feeling it was no air either but I was still able to breath.

Then it appeared, out of nowhere.

A real precursor.

"You?" I asked, "Are you the one who brought me here?"

The precursor nodded.

"Well what do you want? You just interrupted me in a very important dream!" I said.

_Told you he would say that_ said a strange voice which didn't seem to come from anywhere, actually I'm not sure it even made sound.

"I came to ask for your help" the precursor said with his damn annoying deep voice.

"What would that be? We've already assured the future of your species. What do you want now? A baby sitter?" I asked.

"I'm not asking for myself, I'm asking for your friend" the precursor answered.

"Why can't he ask himself? And when I'm not sleeping?" I said.

"He asked me to explain the situation, besides, this way I know no one is listening" said the precursor.

"Sure. But why you of all people?" I asked, "If Jak has some problems why can't he tell me?"

_Because he doesn't really understand it all_ said the silent voice.

Damn it! Where did this voice come from?  
"You know him better than anyone" the precursor explained, or tried to as I wasn't really listening. I was busy looking around to see if I could catch a glimpse of the person making the second voice.

"What about Keira?" I asked.

"?" said the precursor.

"Never mind" I answered. "What do you want?"

The precursor told me… but once again I just stared at him with a puzzled expression.

He sighed.

"Do I have to take it over again?"

"No. I think I've got it" I said, mainly because I was damn sick of listening to him. "So what you are saying is that Jak's got some demon inside him or something?"

If the precursor had eyes he probably would have glared at me now.

"Surely you must have noticed" he said.

"Of course I have! I just never knew it was this serious!" I said.

_Welcome to the club_ said the silent voice.

"Okay. Now I'm loosing my patience, who's talking?" I asked into thin air (if there was any air).

"Over here buddy"

I turned around and faced Jak, a younger version of him but still the very same Jak I knew.

Perhaps even more, he looked just like he did the day we left Sandover and smiled at me with the same smile he used before he was tortured.

"Jak! Ehm, you look good" I said.

"Only for now" Jak said. "I'll be back to normal when we wake up".

"How troublesome" I said**, (sorry, couldn't help it. That line is the favorite word of one of the characters of Naruto, Shikamaru)**

"You haven't seen the worst of trouble yet shorty" the precursor said.

I just glared at him. Shorty?

"What is it now? We've killed Metal Kor, Metal Kor killed Praxis. What more can go wrong?" Jak asked.

"There's a new enemy coming, far more dangerous than the metalheads" the precursor said.

"Great, not a peaceful moment eyh?" I sighed. "Perhaps I should have just gone with the kid back to Sandover".

But (as usual) Jak didn't share my opinion.

"I'm sure we can handle it" he said.

"Don't be too sure. Heroes may think they can save the world when they themselves are lost" the precursor said.  
"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"Are you sure you can save the world in your condition?" the precursor asked.

"I can handle it" I said.

"I wasn't talking to you rat-boy" the precursor said.

"I'm fine, don't worry" Jak said.

"No you're not" the precursor said.

"A too" Jak said.

"Am not" the precursor said.

"A too" Jak said.

"Am not" the precursor said.

"A too" Jak said.

"Am not" the precursor said.

"A too" Jak said.

"Am not" the precursor said.

"A too" Jak said.

"Am not" the precursor said.

"Drop it both of you" I said. "And people call me annoying?"

"Fine. This argument surely doesn't lead us anywhere. The thing is, I really find it troubling that our only hope for survival is an ottsel with the special ability of annoying people to death and a boy who might die of eco poisoning if he doesn't be careful" the precursor said. "Don't you have any family or someone who can help you?"  
"Not really" Jak said.

"Unless you count that fat girlfriend of his family" I said, smirking.

Jak glared at me, "Keira's not fat" he said.

"But she might become, the way she's been putting on weight lately" I said.

"We really need a plan B" the precursor sighed.

**Miss.Ecofreak: and that was all.**

**Zakura: don't I get anything to say here?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: you just did say something.**

**Zakura: oh...you're right! **

**Miss.Ecofreak: please leave a review and tell me what you think, and I'll try uploading chapter 9 quicker.**


	10. Return to the flutflutranch

**Miss.Ecofreak: zzzzzzz... oh, back already? Well I'll better give you a new (hopefullybetter than chapter 8) chapter then**

**Answer to Thee Slushee: Yeah. I really hope it doesn't take that long to update again... er... whatever. Reading the reviews I almost got confused thought since everyone comes asking for chapter 9 and while under the reviewers name it _says_ chapter 9, since the intro was uploaded as a chapter of its own but that's how the story goes:) I gotta tell you I didn't like the way chapter 8 turned out either so you're not alone, the jokes was an emergency case which tends to appear when I get writers block (most of these jokes are deleted though, but this time I got sick of waiting so I let some stay)**

**Zakura: enough talking. Let's get back to the flut-flutranch!**

**Miss.Ecofreak: right. You guys remember the flut-flut-ranch from Growing up? Well as almost everything else in GRowing Up the flut-fluts were created as characters for this story (at least the birds Spot, Phoenix and Tiny Blue. Spike was created a bit later) But I am also intruducing a new character.**

**I have this hobby of sketching Jak and Daxter-characters as animals, since they are a lot easier to sketch than elves. I sketched Jak as an ottsel and a pretty cool dragon, and my own character Cornelius I often sketched as a wolf dog (as in Brother Dork)  
I really liked his wolf dog form though, so I created it as an own character, changed it into female and put it in this story as Kura the wolf dog, she has the same colors in her fur as Cornelius' hair but that doesn't mean they're related! **

**CHAPTER 9**

**RETURN TO THE FLUT-FLUT-RANCH**

Daxter

It felt a bit funny to wake up to almost pitch black darkness instead of daylight, at first when I woke up I didn't really remember where I was.

But then I remembered why I was out here in the desert, and I remembered the dream I had in my sleep.

Just then I got a coconut in my head.

I looked up to see Tetra smirking at me.  
"Are you awake?" she asked.

"I was awake! No need to throw things at me" I snarled.

I turned around to see Shara sitting by a fire; she had obviously been awake for some time.

"Want some breakfast?" she asked. "I have roasted coconuts and water. You don't have to eat it thought" she added as she saw the look on my face. "I know someone who lives nearby so we can probably get some real breakfast at their house".

"Who in their right mind would live in the middle of the desert?" Jak asked drowsily, he didn't exactly look like he had gotten a moment sleep; then again this is what he usually looks in the morning ever since our adventures in Haven started.

"Well… he has this certain hobby which isn't really easy to work with in the city" Shara said as she threw water over the bonfire. "The city is too small for him".

I noticed she wasn't looking at Jak; she was probably still a bit shaken by what happened earlier.

We packed up quite quickly since we didn't have a lot to pack.

And then we headed out to the desert by the light of a flashlight Tetra had brought.

For once, Tanya didn't act so cocky.

"What was that?" she said at almost every time we heard a small sound, usually it was lizards, or even the sound of our own footsteps, one time she flew of from Shara's shoulder and got startled by the sound of her own wings.

I wanted to throw a cutting remark, but Jak held his hand in front of my mouth before I got to say something.

"Leave her alone, she's upset enough as it is" he said.

"Oh, so now she's upset huh?" I said. "She didn't exactly offer me a lot of compassion when I was looking for you",

"Fine, go ahead" Jak said rolling his eyes.

But just as I was about to open my mouth again, Shara shouted "There it is!"

I was hardly able to see what she meant in the darkness, but then I saw some torches scattered around a large enclosure, in the middle of it was a couple of houses, and close to those houses I noticed some animals.

"Woah" Jak said. "Daxter? Do you see what that is?"

"No, how am I supposed to see anything in this darkness?" I asked.

Then I heard a loud screech from the animals down at the farm.

I had heard that sound before, and it was not easily forgotten.

"Oh my. Flut-fluts" I said.

"That's right. My friend raises flut-fluts" Shara said. "They need a lot of space, so he couldn't build his farm in the city."

"Are you sure it's alright to come by this late at night?" I asked.

"Of course. As long as the birds are still outside it's a sign the elves living there are awake too" Shara said. "They rarely go to sleep until like 3.00 am anyway".

She quickly started running down the hill, obviously she couldn't get to the birds quick enough, Tanya and Tetra followed.

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea" I said.

"Aw come on Dax, not all flut-fluts are as annoying as Chici" Jak said.

Chici was a flut-flut I knew back in Sandover, a crazy chick who of some reason thought I was an adult flut.** (It's the same you see in Jak and Daxter. I just needed a name for her)**

"I don't feel like taking any chances" I muttered. "Who knows? Maybe they're aggressive?"

"You're such a chicken (ironic choice of words)" Jak said.

I glared at him for a moment.

"Is that Dark Jak talking now or is it okay to bite your ear?" I asked.

"That's my real opinion, but my dark side agrees so please let go of my left ear" Jak said.

He had become quite good at separating his own thoughts from Dark Jak's over the night, the only annoying thing was that this gave him the chance at saying all the jokes he wanted to say to me before he learned to talk.

So we went down to the flut-flut farm where Shara was waiting by the stables.

"What took you so long?" she asked, as if she had been waiting for hours.

"Don't mind her. She always gets inpatient when she's by the flut-fluts" Tanya said.

Shara didn't hear her; she just opened the door to the stable.

"Charles? It's me, Shara, are you ho...? Oh hi"

At first I thought she had found the guy she was shouting for but as she backed out from the stable door, what came out was a small light blue flut-flut.

"Is it just me or did has the flut-fluts grown smaller over the past two hundred years?" I asked.

"Of course not. This is Tiny Blue; he's a miniature flut-flut, the smallest flut in the world" Shara said. "Say hi to Jak and Daxter Tiny".

Every thought about Tiny Blue being as annoying as Chici disappeared when he shrieked and ran inside.

"What's gotten into him?" Tetra asked. "Usually he can't leave strangers alone. Don't worry ottsel-boy, he's a nice flut"

"Gee, that's great" I muttered.

"Shara! I thought I hear your voice"

I turned around and saw a man walking towards us carrying a large bag of flut-flut-pellets and closely followed by a wolf dog** (yup. Wolf dog. I really love wolves so I decided to make this one a hybrid, besides; there are already a lot of hybrids in the Jak and Daxter-world)**

Jak wasn't slow on putting on Crocket's lead as he saw this dog.

"Hi Charles, long time no see" Shara said.

"It sure is. I haven't seen you in months. Hard times in the underground?" the man asked.

"Yeah. I'm just glad that's over" Shara said. "By the way, I brought some new friends over, this is Jak and Daxter".

"Well what do you know? Celebrities on my ranch, what an honor" Charles said. "My name is Charles Elfin, and this little puppy here is Kura" (**Zakura: last four letters of my name!)**

"Is that a puppy?" I asked.

The dog was a bit higher than Crocket, and I knew (although Tess often called him pup) he was an adult.

"She's only six months old. Although she probably won't be as tall as her father who's a wild wolf I'm sure she'll grow bigger than this" Charles explained.

"Hey wait a minute" Jak said. "You said your last name was Elfin, like…"  
"Yes. Errol Elfin is unfortunately my nephew. But he's sort of the black sheep of the family" Charles said. "He had a rough childhood".

"I can't really picture Errol as a child anyway" I muttered. "I feel sorry for his family".

"Ehm, maybe we should go inside? We've been walking a lot today and haven't eaten yet" Shara said.

"It's always nice to have guests" Charles said. "Just go inside, I'll go feed the birds and then I'll come with you".

"Do you think Shara changed the subject for a reason?" I whispered to Jak as we walked towards the house.

"I don't know. You're the conversations-expert" Jak said. "But she did seem a bit upset when you mentioned Errol's family. I wonder why?"

**Miss.Ecofreak: yeah, wonder why. **

**Zakura: maybe its because his brother was her best friend?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: yup. And hey! I found the best of news today!**

**Zakura: what? You're going to get a chinchilla?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: no. I looked around on the internet as I figured out a new Ratchet and Clank game was coming, not that I'm very interested in R&C since I unfortunately hasn't played it yet but out of pure curiousity I checked out new playstation games in general and guess what I found?**

**Zakura: Naruto?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: no... well I've seen that too, but frankly they don't sound to interesting. What I found was a game titled JakX combat driving! They're coming back! And there's a new game for Daxter coming on PSP as well, reason enough in itself to get myself a PSP**

**Zakura: sure, buy a PSP only because of one game... But back on topic. please review or this story will end here.**

**Miss.Ecofreak: No it won't! But review anyway.**


	11. A dangerous trip

**Miss.Ecofreak: okay, the animal lover is back!**

**Zakura: what do you mean about animal lover the way you treat me?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: I can't walk around putting grass in your cage every hour, I've got schoolwork**

**Zakura: sure, but you can always give grass to Kiara!**

**Miss.Ecofreak: no I don't, first of all Kiara doesn't eat all her hay within two hours second I am not responsible for feeding any animals this week**

**Zakura: hmp!**

**Miss.Ecofreak: who would know a rabbit could get jealous? Espesially at a wild rabbit like Kiara...**

**Answer to Thee Slushee: Random humour usually has NOTHING to do in Light Within, I agree that was bad (as I've mentioned before but I disliked it so much I had to say it again). And I don't know when Jak wil realise Kate's secret, but I'll try to speed up a bit to make it happen soon:)**

**Miss.Ecofreak: but now to even more animals... FLUTBACK-RIDING!**

**CHAPTER 10**

**A DANGEROUS TRIP**

Jak

It didn't take Charles long to feed fifty-seven birds (which according to Shara were the exact number of birds on the farm right now) so he soon came in along with his wife Maya **(I swear that name was a coincidence)** and his daughters Kiki and Mina, and Kura the wolf dog.

Shara spend most of the meal looking out of the window, at the birds feeding outside (all acting like morons)** (Miss.E: too see how the flut-fluts acts during feeding time, read "Flut-fluts and crocadogs" in Growing Up In Haven City)**

"Hey Charles. I don't see Spot out there" she said.

"Oh, Spot. He's fine. He just isn't here for the moment" Charles said.

"So where is he? In another pen? Doesn't Phoenix want him in the herd anymore?" Shara asked.

"Well of course. Spot and Phoenix are like brothers, they never part. But ever since Cornelius died Spot has been taking daily walks into the desert. I've tried to stop him countless times but he always finds a way out of the pen" Charles said. "But he always comes back sooner or later, so I've decided to just let him go when he wants to".

"He's looking for Cornelius" Kiki said with her mouth full of fish (**Miss.Ecofreak: ew, I hate fish**. **Zakura: stop interrupting the story!)**, "It's so cute. A loyal flut searching for his disappeared owner, just like in the books".

"Aw come on. What stupid animal would spend years looking for a guy who's most likely dead anyway?" Daxter asked.

"Doesn't he get hungry? Oh… forget that" Tanya said as a blue and yellow flut-flut walked into the pen (apparently he had jumped over the fence) and towards the food-dish where one of the birds, which looked like the leader, greeted him with a peck on the beak.

"That's Phoenix out there" Shara said. "The leader of the herd and Tiny Blue's younger brother Spot. He used to be Cornelius' bird".

"That's Tiny Blue's little brother? He's twice his size" Daxter said.  
"Told you Tiny was a mini" Shara said.

"How long have you been working with flut-fluts?" I asked, flut-fluts had always been my favorite animals.** (Miss.E: at least they're better than leapers who die only if you crash into a wall or something)**

"My family has been in the flut-flut business ever since Mar's time" Charles said. "In fact, every member of the family, even those who don't live on the farm, has their own flut-flut here. That also includes Errol and Cornelius.

"Is Cornelius part of this family too? I never would have guessed" Daxter said. "I mean, when I met Cornelius he seemed to hate the baron and Errol was his closest helper".

"Cornelius and Errol are brothers even though they don't like to admit it" Charles said. "Luckily their rivalry doesn't show on their birds. Phoenix was Errol's flut-flut and wild-caught while Spot used to be Cornelius' bird. I guess birds don't care much about the relationship between their owners."

"And that's good. I really wouldn't like it if Phoenix started taking after his owner" Tanya said and shuddered.

We slept over at the farm, Charles and Maya had many extra bedrooms.

The morning after, Shara was eager to show us all the birds.

"That's Coco over there, and there's one of Phoenix's chicks, Firebird and his mother Silver Star"

"How does she remember all their names?" Daxter asked drowsily from my shoulder.

Suddenly I noticed there was a smaller pen on the other side, which housed only one flut-flut.

"Who's that bird over there?" I asked.

Shara turned around to see where I looked.

"Oh… that's Spike. Not a very good bird" she said. "He was taken out of the herd when he started attacking the other bird. **(If you want to know what happened, once again you can read Flut-fluts and crocadogs in Growing Up) **Believe it or not that young bird over there is his daughter, come here Blossom!"  
I wasn't really interested in meeting Blossy or whatever her name was, there was something funny about this bird on the other side so I walked over to him.

It was apparent why the bird was separated from the others as soon as I walked up to him.

I noticed he had tried to peck on every plank or tree in his small pen, and had been tied up to a log to prevent escaping.

At the moment he saw me he snarled, obviously he didn't want anything else than to tear me apart.

"This bird doesn't look at all like Chici. Let's go back to the other ones" Daxter said. "In fact, I would more like to spend the day with Crocket than to come any nearer to it".

"You can go. I want to take a closer look at this one" I said.

Daxter didn't have to be asked twice, he jumped of my shoulder and went straight back to Shara.

"Hi there Spike. What are you so upset about?" I asked.

The bird growled and tried to charge at me, however the rope tied to his neck stopped him.

"He's no pushover that one" Chares said as he walked up behind me. "I've even tried putting him to sleep a couple of times but I never came near with the needle."

"Why is he so much different from the others? Is he wild-caught or anything?" I asked.

"No. Phoenix is the only bird on the ranch who came from the wild, and he was only a chick when he was caught" Charles explained. "In fact, Spike used to be a nice bird when he was little. But he ran away once. We caught him after only a few months, but ever since that he's never been the same."

I looked at the bird again, I couldn't shake of the feeling there was something strange about him, apart from that he was extremely aggressive.

"When did he escape?" I asked.

"I think it approximately tree years ago now, and soon after he recovered he claimed leadership over the herd until he was replaced by Phoenix about tree months ago" Charles said.

Tree years. That was before I even came to Haven City.

"Do you want to try to ride one of the birds?" Charles asked. "I've got a lot of other birds who are much nicer than that one".

Ride flut-flut? I hadn't done that for two years if not more.

"You bet" I said.

Shara didn't even ask if she could come along.

As soon as she saw Charles getting ready to put a saddle on a green flut-flut named Lucy (**She's Tiny Blue and Spot's half sister)** she ran out on the field and picked out an apparently random flut-flut.

The random bird turned out to be Phoenix, something which Tanya didn't take too well.

"Of all the birds on the farm, why did you have to take that one?" she asked.

"Poor Phoenix has hardly been ridden since Errol died" she said. "He's such a nice bird, aren't you Phoeni? Yes you are".

Tanya rolled her eyes, but she didn't say more.

Crocket seemed very skeptical about the large birds; he had never seen one before.

"Relax Crock, they're not dangerous" I assured him.

But the crocadog just kept barking.

"I can keep him in the dog pen while you're gone if you want me too" Charles said. "Kura usually runs around freely anyway. I'm trying to train her into becoming a herding dog."

"Thanks. But I'll take him with me" I said, jumping up on Lucy's back. "He'll only break out if you cage him anyway. Daxter! Are you coming?"

Daxter came out of the stables, wearing a kid-sized helmet.

"I don't take any chances" he said as Shara and I started laughing. "You probably won't laugh if I fell of and got a concussion".

"You look like a total jerk" Tetra said from the back of Tiny Blue.

"I would rather look stupid than becoming stupid" Daxter said. **(Remember that line, everyone who rides on their bikes, horses or gigantic birds without a helmet)**

He climbed up on Lucy's head and she didn't seem to mind.

I clearly thought he was overreacting.

Not once had he fallen of Chici, and she was only a few days old when she was first ridden.

Ten minutes later we were all out on the large fields near the wasteland.

Shara on Phoenix, Tetra and Tanya on Tiny Blue, Daxter and I were riding Lucy and Crocket was running behind us barking like a mad dog.

I had almost forgotten how great it felt riding a flut-flut.

Zoomers were one thing but when you really want a good ride, nothing beats a flut-flut.

Lucy seemed to enjoy herself just as much as I did; she jumped over obstacles as logs and big stones like they were nothing.

"Could you slow down?"

Clearly Daxter wasn't having fun; either that or he hid it well.

He does have a habit of complaining on practically everything.

"Hey, look who's broken out of his pen again" Tetra said.

I turned around to see Spot running towards us, then he ran past us not even stopping to say hi, or whatever fluts do when they're greeting.

"Why is he in such a hurry?" Tanya asked as Tiny Blue cried sadly after seeing his younger-yet-bigger brother run by him.

"Let's go check it out" Shara said and turned Phoenix around to follow Spot.

"You do that, meanwhile we're going back to the ranch" Daxter said.

"In your dreams" I said and drove Lucy forward.

Daxter didn't even bother complaining this time, he knows all to well it won't help.

We followed Spot into the desert where Tiny Blue refused to go farther,

"What's wrong blueboy? Suddenly you're not so keen on seeing your brother?" Tetra asked.

"He's probably scared of the desert" Shara said while trying to keep Phoenix from running straight into the desert. "Maybe we should go back"

"Oh, so when _he_ wants to go we can go? What about my needs?" Daxter complained.

"Let's go" Shara said completely ignoring Daxter. "It's getting hot out here anyway".

"Of course it's hot! It a desert!" Daxter complained.

"Can't you please ask him to shut up?" Tetra begged me.

"What makes you think he'll listen to me?" I asked.

But as we turned around, Crocket stared barking even more intense than he had before.

And for a good reason, blocking our way was five nasty metalheads.

"Oh great, and just as I left my morph gun at the ranch" I said.

"Aw come on. You never needed the gun back in Sandover" Daxter said.

"Maybe we should try to run and hope they don't catch up with us" Tetra said and Tiny Blue seemed to agree, he was walking backwards into the desert.

"I don't know what's worse, being killed by metalheads or die in the desert" Shara said.

The metalheads growled threatening as they moved closer.

Even Crocket hid behind Phoenix's feet, which he had figured was the strongest of the birds.

"I really wished Cornelius was here right now" Tanya said.

**Miss.Ecofreak: okay, raise your hands everyone who hates leapers!**

**Zakura: what does leapers have to do withanything?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: they suck! can't take a damn thing! But the flut-flut however... I wonder if she will appear in JakX?**

**Zakura: Dude, it's like hundreds of years after Jak and Daxter**

**Miss.Ecofreak: fine then, all the pictures I've seen of Combat Driving Jak drives one of the cars form Jak3. But enough of that. Now I'm going to leave you with this cliffhanger and go to bed**

**Zakura: hey!**

**Miss.Ecofreak: no I won't (giggle) I'll enter another web page and later finish the next chapter and hopefully update this some day before christmas (or way before that)please review:)**


	12. Sharpshooter

**Miss.Ecofreak: I am back! Finally it's time to reintruduce my favourite OC! But first, let's answer some reviews.**

**Answer to Thee Slushee: if you don't like cliffhangers, sorry about that, even more sad is it that I got a writers block right afterwards (as much as I hate WBs, they're even worse if it happens at such a time) But here comes the next chappy**

**Answer to Star Earo: where did you get those leapers? I really wonder if flut-fluts appear in JakX**

**Zakura: I doupt so**

**Miss.Ecofreak: you're so negative. Anyway, the show must go on!**

**CHAPTER 11**

**SHARPSHOOTER**

Daxter

The metalheads weren't much bigger than the ones we usually fought.

Then again, usually we had weapons.

"Okay Jak, it's been nice knowing you" I said. "But not you" I said to the whimpering crocadog.

Suddenly we heard a flut-flut cry, at first I thought it was one of ours, but it came from farther away.

"What was that?" Tetra asked.

"Could it be Spot?" Shara asked.

Suddenly five gunshots were fired and the metalheads fell over instantly.

I had only seen one person do that before, and that one person now came down a hill, riding Spot the flut-flut.

"Anyone called for a superhero?" he asked.

Tanya didn't seem to know what to say, she just stared at the newcomer in surprise.  
"Cornelius! You're alive!" Shara said, she jumped of the back of an equally surprised Phoenix and ran towards her old friend.

"Of course I am. You didn't think a bunch of overgrown metalheads was going to get me did you?" Cornelius asked **(Miss.Ecofreak: yeah right! If the wastelanders hadn't saved you, you would be metal meat!)**

"What have you been running around in the desert for? Wouldn't it be a lot easier to return to the city?" I asked.

"Maybe. I just felt like exploring out here a bit first" Cornelius said grinning.

That guy reminded me so much of Jak it was scary.

"Well you've been exploring more than enough. Why can't you just come back to the farm with us? I'm sure Charles will be thrilled to see you" Tanya said.

"Maybe, but first of all I think I should introduce me to your new friend" Cornelius said, he jumped of the flut-flut and walked towards us.

"You must be Jak, I've hard so much about you. My name is Cornelius (as you might have noticed)"

"I assumed that" Jak said. "So you must be the little brother of my late rival".

"That and the nephew of baron Praxis. Most families have one black sheep, my family has one white sheep and the rest black or very dark grey" Cornelius said with a smirk. "But you must believe me when I say I'm not like any of them. I'm far better than Erol in zoomer-racing ("And zoomer-crashing" Tanya added) and better at shooting as you just witnessed" Cornelius said.

"And a killer at bragging" I muttered.

"Trust me Dax, you can give him one heck of a competition at that" Tanya said and flew over to Cornelius and landed on his goggles. "I've been missing this perch for some time".

"Great, now that we all know each other, let's get back before more metalheads arrive" Tetra said.

But just as Cornelius had gotten up on his flut-flut again we heard a cry.

"That was Blossom!" Shara said.

"How on earth can you hear the difference between one flut-flut or another?" I asked.

"I would like to know that as well" Cornelius said.

"Never mind that, we have to go now!" Shara said and Phoenix didn't waste time, he ran straight for his home.

Shara had told us earlier that Phoenix was the leader of the herd, it seemed apparent now as he ran to protect his adopted family **(I call it adopted, since Phoenix was born in the wild)**

As we came back to the camp we could see what made the flut-fluts cry.

The ranch was under attack, the attackers had driven the flut-fluts into a corner and one was holding Charles so he couldn't stop them.

"Oh great, it's those guys again" Jak said.

At first I didn't see what he meant, but then I noticed it was the same guys who had kidnapped Jak earlier, those who managed to get away from Dark Jak.

"Nobody messes with the flut-fluts and gets away with it. Hey you!" Cornelius yelled to the bad guys.

Some of the people turned around.

"There they are" one said.

"Then let's just do what we came for and get this over with" said the other.

Two other people wearing exaggerated armours came towards us holding a fighting bird on a metal-leach.

"Spike. What do they want with him?" Shara asked.

"Nothing good that's for sure" Tanya said.

"Hey! Don't do that! He's dangerous!" Charles yelled.

"Of course he is, that's why we need him" the first guy said and pulled out a needle.

"What's in that needle?" I asked.

"I have a bad feeling about this" Jak said.

The guy put the needle in Spike's neck and I didn't have to be a bird expert to say that hurt.

Spike cried angrily and the guys holding him quickly released him and ran for cower.

And for a good reason it turned out, Spike changed.

His feathers turned black and purple, while purple sparks flew across his body.

The chain around his neck fell just like… well, exactly the same way that the chains which baron Praxis had used to secure Jak in his prison fell of.

Spike turned at us, his eyes were no longer green and angry, they were pitch black.

"Holy crap" Cornelius said.

"Now you see what was in that shoot?" Jak asked.

"That must be why Spike has been acting so weird lately" Tanya said. "The baron must have used him as a test animal for the dark warrior program."

And then Spike charged at us.

**Miss.Ecofreak: ops I did it again (and I quoted Britney! Argh! Something's gotta be wrong!)**

**Zakura: come on Slushee, let's kill her.**

**Miss.Ecofreak: er... no! If you do that you'll never see the next chapter! Zakura! Get down! (Runs away)**

**Zakura: feel free to review.**


	13. Ecofreak VS Ecofreak

**Miss.Ecofreak: (hiding ina cupboard) Hi... I've got nothing weird to say so here's a new chapter.**

**CHAPTER 12**

**ECOFREAK VS ECOFREAK**

Jak

The bird reeked of dark eco and I knew more than anyone he wouldn't stop until he ran out of people to kill, unless someone stopped him first.

I jumped of Lucy the flut-flut's back.

"Shara? Can you hold Lucy for a moment?" I asked.

"What are you planning to do?" Shara asked.

"Prevent him from killing us" I said.

"Well in that case you can hold me too" Daxter said and jumped over to Phoenix's back.

I focused my attention at Dark Spike again.

"I know exactly how you're feeling Spiky" I said quietly.

_Still no good reason to spare his life_ my dark side whispered from the back of my head.

This time I didn't even try to stop it.

I could see my fingernails grew out and become sharp claws and I felt as two horns busted out of my skull **(ow, that's gotta hurt!)**

Spike didn't seem to even notice the change, he just ran straight at me like a train at full speed.

I pulled out my hand and grabbed him by the beak.

That stopped him for a second or two.

But then he pulled his head back and tried to bite my hand of.

I kicked him by the side making him fall over.

_Is that all you got?_ I/Dark Jak thought.

Dark Spike got on his feet and growled at me.

"That bird's got some guts" Cornelius said.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Tanya asked. "You're more like your brother than you'd like to admit".

Spike charged at me once more and I knocked him away, leaving him with large scars at the side of his neck.

He glared at me with a sight that said "That's it! Now I'm really angry".

He got up at his feet again and shrieked.

Tetra started imitating a sports commentator.

"And Spike doesn't seem to want to give up. He's got Dark Jak cornered!" she said.

Actually it was opposite; Spike was currently standing in the corner between one of the two stables and his own little pen snarling like a crocadog.

I wasn't much frightened by the snarling, and Dark Jak doesn't know what fear is.

"Come on bird, let's finish this" I muttered, though with sharp fangs it was hard to make it understandable.

The bird shrieked once more and I grabbed him by the neck.

The cry it now made was more a frightened cry than an angry one.

"I think Dark Jak is the winner. Let's give him a hand folks" Tetra said and started clapping.

Spike's feathers returned to their original colours, and he stared at me as if he was begging for me to spare his life.

"What? Now you want mercy?" I asked.

The bird let out a cry again.

_Let's just kill him_ Dark Jak demanded. _Let the blood flow, it'll be fun._

_Enough of that_ I thought back.

I dropped Spike to the ground as my claws sank back into my fingers.

I was back to normal again now, to Spike's relief.

"So… What do we do with him?" Cornelius asked, he had jumped of his flut-flut and came towards me with Tanya on his head and Daxter on his shoulder.

"He sure doesn't look as dangerous now" I said. "Maybe he just needed someone to show him who's the boss".

Spike twittered weakly, and although he wasn't talking it felt a bit like he was saying "please don't kill me; I'll be good from now on".

"Let's just break his neck before something like this happens again" Daxter said.

"For once I actually agree with you" Tanya said.

"No. I don't want to" I said.

"Jak, you already have one killer beast" Daxter said as Crocket once again growled at him. "Do you really need another?"  
"Aw come on Dax. Isn't he cute?" I asked.

"No, you're an idiot" Daxter said.

"Great. The one time I actually agree with the rodent you had to disagree" a new voice said.

I turned around to see a man standing next to the main pen.

"How cute, two ecofreaks find each other, I don't know if that's beauty or if it's just sick" the man said.

"You? What are you doing here?" Cornelius asked.

"What's this? The commander's little brother still lives?" the man said in surprise. "So you had it in you after all, too bad you had to fight on the wrong side. And you".

He now pointed at Shara who looked back at him with a look of disgust.

Daxter jumped of Cornelius' shoulder and down to the ground.

"Listen person. I don't know who you are but… who on earth are you?" he asked.

"Me? My name should be rather known" the man said. "My name is Ronny Praxis, and my brother used to rule this city" he waved his arm back at Haven City, the palace was barely visible over the hills. "That is, until you came and killed him".

**Zakura: gasp! who is this new man?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: as if you didn't already know. We're nearing the big ending (and yes, another cliffie) Will Jak ever figure out who Shara really is? Or will she die before she has time to tell?**

**Zakura: sure don't hope so**

**Miss.Ecofreak: no. Me neither. Please review.**


	14. New surprises

**Miss.Ecofreak: finally! We're back!**

**Zakura: it didn't take that long though**

**Miss.Ecofreak: oh stop nagging.**

**Answer to Thee Slushee: of course I wouldn't kill Shara, do I look like a dark maker to you?**

**Zakura: well... according to your nickname you almost are**

**Miss.Ecofreak: no. I'm a dark precursor, not a dark maker**

**Zakura: it's the same thing!**

**Miss.Ecofreak: no it's not. it's a five letter difference**

**Answer to Babyblues15: sorry. All ends there**

**Zakura: and she claims she's not evil?**

**MIss.Ecofreak: nah, I'm kidding. It'll be this chapter and one more. So go on reading:)**

**CHAPTER 13**

**NEW SURPRISES**

Daxter

You don't have to be a genius to figure out we were in trouble, I decided the ground was no safe spot so I returned to Cornelius' again (Jak's shoulder didn't seem entirely safe either especially as he was still standing close to Spike)

"Listen lunatic. First of all I didn't kill the baron, although I really wanted to" Jak said.

"That's what they all say. But either way you are going to pay for all the pain you have caused this city" Ronny said **(Ms.E: now that I'm writing it that name really doesn't suit a bad guy. Zakura: he sounds like a certain red-haired wizard)**

"Jak didn't cause half as much pain as your stupid brother did!" Shara yelled speaking up for the first time since the stranger appeared.

"Shut up kid! I don't want to harm you but you might give me no choice" Ronny said.

Shara looked away again; I saw tears running down her face.

What was wrong with her? She almost seemed to hate this guy even more than she hated the baron.

"You're a freak do you know that?" Ronny said to Jak. "You and that insane bird. Ever thought about ending all this suffering? Cause I could make it happen", he took a gun out of his pocket and aimed it at Jak.

"NO!" Shara yelled and threw herself in front of Jak just as Ronny fired the gun.

Flut-fluts cried, Cornelius grabbed a hold Phoenix, Tiny Blue, Lucy and Spot to prevent them all for rushing over to Shara who was now bleeding from her arm.

Then Jak said something I never expected him to say.

"Kate!" he said, bending down to the girl.

Even Ronny looked startled.

"Great job lunatic" Cornelius snarled. "You almost killed your own daughter there, only because you really had it in for her half-brother".

"What? Half-brother? He and…? Did I miss something here?" I said.

"It's true" Shara/Kate said. "You were born from my mother Maria. I wanted to tell you but I just didn't know how".

Jak didn't seem to know just what to say, but he did look at her like she was an old friend he hadn't seen for years, something which she apparently was.

"I-I never planned on doing that" Ronny said and dropped his gun as he backed of. "It was you I was after. But she had to interfere".

"Drop it will you?" Cornelius said he had his own gun pointed at Ronny. "I don't care if you're family and I never miss".

"That boy is a monster! You can't let him run freely" Ronny said. "He killed your own brother did you know that?"  
"Actually Errol killed himself" Tanya said. "He crashed into some barrels of dark eco, simply because… he was nuts".

"A real loon" I said.

"Totally wacko" Cornelius said.

"Cornelius, wait" Kate said, with some help from Jak and Tetra she managed to sit up. "Don't kill him. There's no need".

"No need? What are we supposed to do with him then?" Cornelius asked.

"We could call the Freedom League and have him put in jail, laws have changed since the baron you know" Kate said.

"Laws suck" Cornelius muttered but he put his gun away. "But you better not do any funny stuff, you hear that? Daxter? Go get that gun".

"Why me?" I asked.  
"Well why not? Fetch it ottsel" Cornelius said.

I jumped down and picked up the gun that Ronny had dropped to the ground, and then I went back and gave it to Jak (I didn't feel like giving Cornelius any more weapons right now).

"Charles! Can you call the FL for us? And make sure to tell them to get an ambulance-zoomer for Kate" Cornelius yelled.

Charles ran into the house (not caring to ask where Cornelius appeared from), all of Ronny's helpers had fled as Spike turned into Dark Spike.

"Is your arm ok?" Cornelius asked, turning to Kate.

"I think so, the bullet hardly penetrated the skin on my shoulder" she answered.

"Let me se if I got this right. You and Jak are half siblings right? And you got the same mother?" I asked.

"Correct. Give him some treats" Tetra said rolling her eyes.

"But… does that mean you're a descendant of Mar as well?" I asked.

"Wow, we've got ourselves a genius on our hands".

"Shut up rat-girl I wasn't talking to you" I said to Tetra.

Kate giggled a bit.

"You're absolutely right Daxter. Which is why I had to hide my identity under the baron's rule" she said. "He knew me very well though, seeing he was my uncle. But still by changing my name I managed to escape… almost".

"Until you got caught in the prison right?" I said. "Sorry about that".

"It's okay. After all you were just trying to save my dear little brother" Kate said as Jak looked away for a second.

Clearly he wasn't very used to be called "little brother" and after what I knew, Kate was in fact younger than him.

"Did you know all this?" I asked Cornelius.

"Of course. Kate and I have been friends since she was five and I were four, and for a long time I was the only one who did know" Cornelius answered.

"Oh, this is all really nice with this family reunion and all but I'm afraid the tables have turned".

We all turned around at once and saw Ronny holding one of Charles' daughters in one arm and a knife in the other.

"Hey! Let go of her!" Cornelius said and pulled out his gun again.

"Or what? You're going to shot me? What if you hit your dear cousin here?" Ronny asked. "Or do you care as much for her as you did for your own brother?"

Cornelius glared at the man, but put his gun away.

"Good boy. Now give me back my gun so I can do what I came here for" Ronny said, smirking.

I looked at Jak nervously.

"Sorry old man, you're not getting it" he said coldly.

"But Jak! What about…" Kate wasn't able to say more because Jak covered her mouth with his hand while looking at something behind Ronny.

"How heroic. I should have known you would rather save your own life than saving someone else" Ronny snarled. "Why don't you listen to my dear daughter? She's right in most cases."

"Why don't you try to throw that knife at me instead? You're not getting your gun back" Jak said.

Ronny glared at him. "I don't think so. Cornelius! You better convince him to give the gun back or I'll…"

Suddenly Spike flew at Ronny from behind, knocking the girl out of his hands.

Charles' wife came running along with her husband and pulled her daughter away.

"That bird gets all mean and nasty when you piss him up" Jak said. "So don't piss him up. Word to be wise".

"That was a good one. Remind me to use that one day" I said.

"You're really full of surprises you know that?" a new voice said.

Torn had just arrived, along with four Freedom League guards who had their guns pointing at Ronny, not that it was needed, he was caught under Spike anyway.

"Oh no. Please don't tell me they made you the new commander?" Cornelius said.

"Well hello to you too" Torn said. "Now if someone will please remove that bird so we can take this convict to prison?"  
Jak pulled Spike away.

"What took you so long?" he asked Torn.

"We had other things to do as well, don't think that only because you saved the city we can stop caring for all the other citizens" Torn said.

"We got lost and didn't know how to find our way" one of the guards said.

Torn glared at him as the rest of us started laughing (including the guards)

"I'm just glad that's over" Kate said. "Now perhaps we can finally get some peace and quiet".

Torn looked at her for a second.

"Peace and quiet? Maybe in a hundred years or two, when the metalheads go extinct and people learn that dark eco is not a toy" he looked at Jak and Spike as he said the last line.

**Miss.Ecofreak: that's it for the action-sequences, I have one more chapter I want to write and then I'll jump of a cliff and die**

**Zakura: what is this? Sarcasm-day?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: not really... Please review and you'll get ... a new chapter. See ya**


	15. Heirs of the founder

**Miss.Ecofreak: Sorry this chapter took so long, it took some time to write it.**

**Zakura: Miss.Ecofreak was too lazy.**

**Miss.Ecofreak: shut up! **

**Answer to Thee Slushee: I wrote the answer into the fic. And yup, there's only this chapter. I do realise it was short, my brother pointed that out too. But there's still more to come after this story, like Dork Period, the sequel to Dork2-3 and The Ancient ones which will be a precursror story. **

**But now; enjoy the last chapter of Light Within.**

**CHAPTER 14**

**HEIRS OF THE FOUNDER**

Daxter

It was a few months since we put Kate's father in jail, and now we were all back at the hospital, Kate, Jak, Tetra, Tess and me.

"Is your arm alright?" Tess asked.

"It's fine now. Luckily the bullet didn't hit any important nerves" Kate said.

"There is still one thing I don't understand" I said, turning to Jak. "You said you didn't remember anything from your life before Sandover Village, then how did you remember Kate?"  
"I don't know" Jak admitted. "I guess I hadn't forgotten as much as I thought".

"Things that happen are never really forgotten, even if you don't remember them" Kate said, Tetra and I gave her a puzzled look. **(That line comes from Sprited away)**

"What a weird sentence" Tetra said.

"I know, I just heard it somewhere, but I don't remember where" Kate answered.

Was that ironic? Cause it did sound a bit weird.

"By the way Kate, where did Cornelius go?" Tess asked.

"I don't know" Kate said. "He said I had to see someone, but he didn't say who".

"Speaking of seeing someone" said a doctor who had just come into the waiting room. "You can come in now".

I don't think I've ever seen Jak look that pale before, after fighting of lurkers, metalheads, krimson guards and surviving two years of torture you wouldn't think something this natural would give him the chills.

"Relax Jak, I'll be with you all the way" I said and jumped up on his shoulder.

Jak gave me a small grin but I noticed he was still nervous as he walked through the door.

In the room there were two beds, one was empty, and Keira was in the other.

But that was not what made Jak so nervous.

In Keira's arms were not one, but two newborn elves.

One had yellow, blue striped hair, and looked pretty much like Jak.

The other one had blue and green hair, just like his mother.

Keira smiled at us as she noticed us.

"Here it is Jak" she said. "Meet your new son and daughter"

**Miss.Ecofreak: Hah! Guess you were wondering what they were doing at the hospital at first eyh?**

**Zakura: don't tell me this was all? Does this chapter only last for one page?**

**Miss.Ecofreak: no… we have to see where Cornelius went to.**

Cornelius (first time he ever told something in this fic)

All the others were at the hospital to meet Keira's twins; I chose not to go with them and took advantage of my free-time from Kate to do something I've wanted to do since we returned to Haven.

"You sure you want to do this?" Tanya asked from her lookout-point on my goggles.

"I can't avoid her forever, you know that. And even if I do I know I'm going to regret it all my life" I said.

**Miss.Ecofreak: avoid who? You might ask  
Zakura: I only ask for one thing. STOP INTERRUPTING!**

As I rounded the corner I saw the house.

It looked very familiar, but yet so different.

Once it had been the home of an average Haven-family of parents and two kids, now there was only one living in the house.

One, who just months before lost both her children. Or so she thought.

"Maybe she's not at home" Tanya said. "Let's come back tomorrow".

"Drop it Tanny, this isn't about you anyway" I said.

Then she came out.

She had changed a lot since I last saw her.

She obviously hadn't groomed her hair in months and looked pretty poor.

But nevertheless, I recognised her.

She looked at me once on her way to her mailbag but didn't seem to recognise me at first.

Then suddenly she seemed to remember and looked at me again with a surprised look on her face.  
"Hi mom" I said.

**Miss.Ecofreak: how cute. Now they all have families.**

**Zakura: easy for you to say. I haven't seen mine for months. (Cries)**

**Miss.Ecofreak: aw, don't be sad. If you stop crying I'll give you some news about your mom.**

**Zakura: (stops crying)**

**Miss.Ecofreak: she's pregnant again. You're going to be a big sister!**

**Zakura: great! But then again, I'll probably never even see them, just as my older half-siblings (cries again)**

**Miss.Ecofreak: that didn't work out… But hey! I'm family too you know!**

**Zakura: hm, that's true.**

**Miss.Ecofreak: so whenever you're feeling down, I'll always be there (as long as I'm not in school, with a friend, on the store or something like that)**

**Zakura: (sarcastically) hurray…**

**Miss.Ecofreak: but now Light Within is finally finished, although the last chapter (heck, the wholething)was a bit short. Please review! **

**And by the way, in case you for some reason wonder what the names of Jak's children are; the yellow haired girl I've named Michelle, and her brother is named Simon (they are not named after anyone particular they simply needed a name). Now you know that, bye for now.**


End file.
